Samuel Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915 • Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra - Maria Valdes, soprano

Live recording from performance on November 6, 2016
First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica

Soprano
Maria Valdes

Violin I
Caroline Ewan - concertmaster
Camille Miller
Aya Kiyonaga
Nicole Sauder
Alex Granger

Violin II
Jackie Suzuki - principal
Sarah Chung
Elba Palomo
Jakub Hlavka
Chiai Tajima

Viola
Evan Hesketh - principal
Taichiroh Kanauchi
Cassie Drake
Michael Chang

Mia Barcia-Colombo - principal
Jonathan Flaksman
Clement Chow

Bass
Brianna Goldberg - principal
Levi Jones

Flute + piccolo
Sara Andon

Oboe + English Horn
Robert Walker

Clarinet
Benjamin Mitchell

Bassoon
Nick Akdag

Horn
David Cripps - principal
Melia Badalian

Trumpet
Jean Laurenz

Triangle
Beth Kosko

[rsinclair]

Sent them another donation ($250) as these talented folks deserve every bit of it. Thank to all for bringing such wonderful talent to my life!

[rsinclair]

I'm so impressed with the musicians the, two violinists, woodwind players, and of course Maria singing. These amazing musicians have invested some much time and work to present their talents to us... Barbers piece is so warm and yet dark, intense yet mesmerizing. The Kaleidescope Orchestra and Maria eclipsed Dawn Upshaw's (exceptional) rendition :-). They need our support....

[gljm]

Probably the best setting of prose by an American composer, great performance.

[vragenstaatvrij]

One of the fine classical pieces composed on American soil. The orchestral score is amazingly refined and Maria sings great.

[pi]

Sublime. This work for high voice and orchestra is a setting of excerpts from a 1938 prose poem by James Agee that would later serve as a preface for the author’s A Death in the Family. Barber’s piece premiered in Boston in 1948, with Eleanor Steber singing and Serge Koussevitzky conducting.

It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches, rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street and the standing up into their sphere of possession of the trees, of birds' hung havens, hangars. People go by; things go by. A horse, drawing a buggy, breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt; a loud auto; a quiet auto; people in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling, switching their weight of aestival body, talking casually, the taste hovering over them of vanilla, strawberry, pasteboard and starched milk, the image upon them of lovers and horsemen, squared with clowns in hueless amber

A streetcar raising its iron moan; stopping, belling and starting; stertorous; rousing and raising again its iron increasing moan and swimming its gold windows and straw seats on past and past and past, the bleak spark crackling and cursing above it like a small malignant spirit set to dog its tracks; the iron whine rises on rising speed; still risen, faints; halts; the faint stinging bell; rises again, still fainter, fainting, lifting, lifts, faints foregone: forgotten. Now is the night one blue dew

Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose

Low on the length of lawns, a frailing of fire who breathes....
Parents on porches: rock and rock. From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces

The dry and exalted noise of the locusts from all the air at once enchants my eardrums

On the rough wet grass of the back yard my father and mother have spread quilts. We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there....They are not talking much, and the talk is quiet, of nothing in particular, of nothing at all. The stars are wide and alive, they seem each like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near. All my people are larger bodies than mine, ...with voices gentle and meaningless like the voices of sleeping birds. One is an artist, he is living at home. One is a musician, she is living at home. One is my mother who is good to me. One is my father who is good to me. By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night. May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away

After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am

[jdsahr]

Is there anything more beautiful than this?

[johnpipkin]

An absolutely wonderful performance by all concerned. Thank you.

[howardchasnoff]

The emotional intensity, the sense of foreboding, the calm bucolic scenes, the tenderness are all mixed in this incredible piece. For the first time we can see it performed a the chamber work that it is. Its a marvelous video. I had the good fortune to perform this (viola) once.

[marisalouisa]

Such a good looking soprano, amazing voice, so clear, clarity of sound from the chamber musicians

[WilliamScharf]

Wonderful version. Ms. Valdes was brilliant.

[tometheridge]

Wow. What a gorgeous performance. The clarity of the score is breathtaking here.

[pawdaw]

You have an exceptional soloist here. A ravishing sound, all of Barber's notes well in the voice, just a beautifully shaped performance. Thank you all.

[paxwallacejazz]

The text is from William Agee's book "A Death in the Family" he also wrote The African Queen.

[monks]

Mesmerizingly beautiful. Ms. Valdés is absolutely radiant

[hollywood]

This group is doing excellent work with unusual repertoire. Congrats to them.
John Biggs, composer

[jdsahr]

Valdes does a great job with this, but it is important to remember that Samuel Barber made it possible. It's brilliant music. He's famous for his Adagio for Strings, but this, this: an absolute masterpiece.

[josephvirgilio]

lovely, my favorite piece of chamber music . . . maybe my favorite piece of any music. Well done, complementi a tutti!

[rsinclair]

Just listened to this again, what an amazing singer *and* orchestra. Wow! Great audio for a single mic :-)

Makes life worth living to hear such talented people!

[shin-i-chikozima]

The impression pierced deep in the soul.Tour de force ！ Greetings from Japan. Sayonara！ So long ！

[barbarasedgwick-billimoria]

Exceptional, incredible! Amazing voice and musicality!